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By-law Management

Written by Murray Cameron on . Posted in Committee Education, Compliance.

Common by-laws relate to:

By-laws establish the rules that help owners and residents live together harmoniously while protecting the value, safety and amenity of the strata community. Effective by-law management promotes consistency, fairness and transparency across the scheme.

  • Noise and nuisance.
  • Parking and visitor parking.
  • Pets.
  • Renovations and alterations.
  • Use of common property.
  • Short-term letting.
  • Waste management.
  • Behaviour affecting other residents.

Owners can also require a specific by-laws be created to manage modern challenges, clear up ambiguities, or grant personal property rights.  

1. Major Renovations & Bathroom Waterproofing

While cosmetic changes (like painting) don’t need approval, major renovations require a Common Property Rights By-law (or Special Works By-law).

  • The Issue: Altering walls, changing windows, or stripping a bathroom affects the building’s common structural slab or waterproofing membrane.
  • The By-law: Owners pass a specific by-law for that individual lot. It officially grants the owner permission to alter the common property but legally shifts 100% of the ongoing maintenance and repair liability for those changes (e.g., if the new bathroom waterproofing fails in 5 years) from the Owners Corporation onto that specific lot owner and any future buyers.

2. Short-Term Rental Accommodation (e.g., Airbnb)

Under NSW strata laws, an Owners Corporation cannot completely ban short-term letting if the property is the host’s principal place of residence. However, they routinely create tight restrictions for investor-owners.

  • The By-law: Schemes frequently pass a by-law banning short-term rentals (stays under 3 months) for investor-owned properties where the lot is not the owner’s primary home. These by-laws often include strict penalties, security deposit requirements, or building access restrictions for transient guests.

3. Electric Vehicles (EV) and Charging Infrastructure

With the boom in electric cars, older buildings are scrambling to update their infrastructure, leading to a wave of new, highly specific by-laws.

  • The By-law: These dictate how a resident can install an EV charger in their allocated car space. They govern how the charger connects to the building’s main power grid, how the individual’s electricity usage is metered and billed back to them, and who is liable for electrical safety or grid overloads.

4. Hard Flooring Installation

Sound travel is one of the most common causes of strata disputes in apartments.

  • The By-law: While model by-laws state you must not create noise that interferes with a neighbor, custom flooring by-laws go a step further. They require an owner to get explicit permission before ripping up carpet to install floorboards or tiles. The by-law usually mandates a strict acoustic underlay rating (e.g., an FIIC rating) and requires acoustic testing certificates to be submitted to the committee post-installation.

5. Strict Smoking & Vaping Restrictions

While model by-laws prevent smoke from creating a “nuisance” or entering another lot, enforcing it can be legally tricky without clear language.

  • The By-law: Many schemes opt for a 100% zero-tolerance custom by-law that explicitly bans smoking or vaping on all common property (including shared courtyards, hallways, and driveways) and outlines specific enforcement frameworks if smoke drift routinely passes from an individual balcony into a neighbor’s open window.

6. Exclusive Use of Common Property

Sometimes an owner wants permanent, private access to a piece of the building that technically belongs to everyone.

  • The By-law: An exclusive use by-law can grant a specific lot the sole right to use a particular common area—such as a specific visitor parking spot turned into private parking, a portion of a rooftop, or a courtyard garden bed. Much like a renovation by-law, the trade-off is that the benefiting owner must pay for its upkeep.

Note on Legality: For any of these additional by-laws to be legally enforceable in NSW, they must be passed by a special resolution (requiring a 75% majority vote) and registered with NSW Land Registry Services (LRS) within 6 months of the vote. If they aren’t registered, they have no legal weight.

By-laws should be reviewed periodically to ensure they remain current, enforceable and appropriate for the needs of the building. Where breaches occur, committees should follow fair and consistent processes that encourage compliance while protecting the interests of the Owners Corporation.

At Strata Real Estate Services, we assist committees with interpreting by-laws, administering approval processes, managing breach notifications and supporting enforcement where required. We also help Owners Corporations review and update their by-laws as legislation and community expectations evolve.